Dark Places

by Gillian Flynn

[clementine]

I think I may have enjoyed Dark Places more than Gone Girl, although I did enjoy Gone Girl as well. I love Gillian Flynn's writing; it's evocative but never flowery, atmospheric without becoming obtrusive. She always uses the perfect amount of description - enough that you can vividly picture the story, but never so much that you get bored. I didn't find that this book dragged at all. It was paced perfectly. I was also in awe of how perfectly different plot pieces were sprinkled throughout in order to build to the conclusion.

Flynn also did a great job balancing the plot with character development. As anyone who's read a few of my reviews will know, I find it nearly impossible to enjoy a book without feeling like I connected with the characters, which was not an issue here. None of the main POV characters were very sympathetic; Ben and Libby are both very hard, unyielding people in a lot of ways, and sometimes I wanted to shake Patty and tell her to get herself together. But, of course, I also felt a lot of empathy for them and the circumstances that lead them to make their choices. All in all, I always appreciate well-rounded, deeply flawed characters.

For me, everything fell apart a tiny bit at the end. It wasn't a disaster, but up until then everything felt so tight and the ending just did not quite do it for me. The chapter told from Calvin Diehl's perspective was out of place for me - the alternating POVs had been so consistent up until that point, and he hadn't been a POV character. The only thing I took out of his chapter was that he killed Debby because Patty was somehow irritating him, but I feel like it could have been inferred that that was just a rash mistake without that exposition. I also wished we got a bit more into Patty's head after she made the decision; the note was so brief and we barely got anything else from her. It just doesn't seem like the kind of thing you would decide to do without some consideration, and I would have liked to understand her thought process. Also, I did figure it out when she was thinking about how she wouldn't have to worry about anything anymore. I'm not the type of person who necessarily minds figuring out the mystery a few beats ahead of the reveal, but I know some people like to be completely shocked - and I think the circumstances surrounding Patty's death would be fairly obvious to a careful reader.

That massive paragraph aside, I obviously did really, really enjoy the book. I'm definitely going to pick up Sharp Objects next - and I'll be curious to see if the ending is the weakest part, as I have personally found with both Dark Places and Gone Girl. Regardless, I love Gillian Flynn's writing, stories, and characters and I will eagerly read both Sharp Objects and whatever she comes out with next!